Iowa plays hard, but falls short against Spartans

A short-handed Iowa Hawkeye squad fought hard but came up short in a 62-54 loss at ninth ranked Michigan State in Big Ten play. Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says he was proud of the effort but says the players weren’t satisfied with just making it close.

He says the team was down as they wanted to come in and win the game. Lickliter says if they didn’t have the positive approach, they wouldn’t have been able to come in and have a chance to win.

The Hawkeyes fall to 4-11 in the Big Ten. Lickliter says it was tough and hopefully they can find something they can do different and fight harder. It was another big night for Iowa sophomore Jake Kelly who finished with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists. Kelly says the Spartans are a good team who tried to wear him out throughout the game.

Kelly and several of his teammates played the entire 40 minutes again but says he is holding up. He says the training staff and coaches have done a good job of getting them ready to play and they don’t overdue it in practice.